Page 66 of A Dark Duet

The spotlight in the club is on us as I open the box, looking at her. “Will you marry me?” I ask her softly.

The entire room goes silent, waiting for her answer. I am nervous even though she told me she loves me, and it lifts the pressure in my chest.

“Even in death, I would love to be your wife.”

I smile, sliding the five-carat diamond custom ring on her finger, glittering in the light. I get up, holding her in my arms as she straddles her legs around my waist. The crowd cheers and roars in the background. I smile while I’m trying to cover her ass with my hands.

“Let’s go home,” I tell her.

She has tears in her eyes from happiness. She lowers her head and peppers kisses all over my face, trying to miss my stitches. I don’t care if they open. I’ll bleed out for her just to feel her love from her soft lips. She slides down, turning to hug Brie as she congratulates her.

“Okay. Let’s go,” she says.

We walk past the billiard section of the club, where the breaking news reports our engagement from social media.

“Wow, that was fast,” Brie says watching the news.

The news changes to another breaking story where Brie’s mother appears with a reporter in handcuffs, saying that her boyfriend and his friends, a local drug dealer by the name of Jack, have been found mutilated and castrated. Both Brie and Giselle look at us with wide eyes.

“Looks like someone took care of them for us,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

They stare at the news reporter, noting that Brie’s mom has been arrested for drugs found in the trailer in her possession. A drug deal gone wrong. There are no witnesses or suspects.

“She’s better off,” Brie says, feeling no remorse for her mother as she looks at the screen.

Giselle stares at my expression. I look into her eyes, and she knows. She knows The Reaper came to collect, making good on his promise. She then looks at Nick and Jaden, realizing that they were involved, too.

Giselle

My heart is full of love for Nate, my protector, and my future husband. I knew he would seek revenge for what they did to me and Brie, I just never knew it would be that painful and brutal.

He inflicted pain on those who unleashed the demons inside me. They can never physically hurt us again. I may have my demons, my nightmares, and my memories, but Nate will always be by my side, fighting them off. He is my darkness, and I am his light. Together, we can find our way to each other, even in death.

THE END

Briana

THREE YEARS AGO

“Brie, did you know?” Giselle asks, coming into the private dance room at the dance studio. We keep a private dance room for pole dancing out of sight from the younger children who are enrolled in ballet classes. Pole dancing is something I have perfected from dancing at the Doll House since I was eighteen when I moved out of my mother’s trailer.

The Doll House is a dance club Giselle and I worked at before moving to Las Vegas with Jaden and Nate. The only exception is that Giselle lives with Nate and I live in one of Jaden’s apartments. According to Jaden and Nate, Jaden has a troubled past and does not like to talk about it. He is very private and refuses to allow anyone in his house except for Nate. Even me. I have never been to Jaden’s house. I guess we all hide our demons.

Holding the metal pole with both hands steadying myself in the six-inch heels I’m wearing, I ask Giselle, “Hear what?”

Even if I’m not dancing at the club anymore in our hometown, I give lessons to those that want to learn the art of pole dancing. I also help market the dance studio for Giselle and assist her with signing her students up for classes. Instead of dancing for money, I instruct people while attending college. Giselle being a Julliard graduate, teaches ballet and performs monthly at the Las Vegas Center of Performing Arts.

Nate loves her so much he bought her the dance studio so she can live her dream and keep dancing and teaching the art of ballet. I’m so happy for them both in finding each other. I can also say the same for me, I found Jaden. Other than Giselle, he is the only other person I love in this world.

“I was just talking to Nate over at the gym and he broke the news that Jaden is going pro. He’s going to fight.” She gets closer in her dance outfit, closing the door so no one can hear our conversation. “Didn’t he tell you?”

Shaking my head with worry, I want to feel excited and see the excitement on Giselle’s face but she is also curious that I didn’t know. “He didn’t mention anything to me this morning or last night.”

Why didn’t he tell me? I thought we didn’t keep secrets about our plans but maybe he didn’t know how I would react. He is very passionate about the sport and managing the gym.

For Jaden, failure is not an option. It is why he is the most sought out manager in the sport of MMA. Any fighter would do anything to have Jaden Cyprus manage them.

Jaden was brought up in the foster system with Nate. They both have made a fortune and quite the name for themselves. A rag to riches story. The underdogs gone pro.

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